Update #53 lands with an all new Job, new types of Talents, exciting new weapon rules, improved enemy AI and a pile of UI quality of life improvements. It's a big one and there will be big ones to follow! The v2.2.x family of development is churning out some major improvements now that we've cleared the v2.1.x hurdles.

First, a huge thanks to all of our KickStarter backers, Patreons and every captain who has left a review on the game. You are all helping make this possible!

Sniper is the first new Job released during EA and adds a new level of tactics and build choices to the Rifle-based combatant. Specializing in Stealth, massive Piercing %, and single-shot abilities, the Sniper prefers to take a target out in a single hit from the 4th position. Snipers may live much of their life in Initiative Penalty, so their shots will ring out at a staccato rhythm.

Sniper's also introduce a brand new type of Talent -- the On Initiative Debuff. Once a round when Initiative is rolled, one On Init Buff or Debuff will activate from each team. Snipers bring one of these automatic debuff to the field of battle. More Jobs will gain On Initiative Debuffs down the line, but this is a great start in deepening the decision matrix around what On Init Talents to invest in!



Improving the tactics of Rifle-based combat also requires additional rules for the major weapon variations -- Sniper Rifles and Snubbers. New position limitations have been added for both, preventing the sniper from firing from up close and the snubber from firing from far away. In short -- regardless of your Talents a Snubber can never fire from the 4th position and a Sniper Rifle can never fire from the first position, unless that crew member is the last surviving crew. While this will have little impact on most builds, it helps reinforce the position from which theses weapons are best used.



Now that we've reached the v2.2.x family, we have a long list of UI improvements that we are coming back around to finishing. We've added more details to the Talent detail area describing its specific rules, about how crew and ship combat buffs and debuffs work, and any weapon limitations impact on the Talent's abilities.

We've also been fixing issues with mousewheel scrolling not working as expected. We've started this process with the System Atlas, Contacts, Missions, Factions and Rumors list.

In prep for customized keybindings, we've been adding more and fixing issues with them.

Any filter that involves Stars is now using OR logic, allow you to see both the red and yellow starred contacts quickly.



- Added new specialist Job: Sniper! Backline, take cover and one-shot!
- 10 new Talents, many new combinations for Rifle Skilled combatants, new Stealth Talents
- New Talent Type "On Initiative Debuff" drops a debuff on the enemy at start of turn
- Most "On Init" Talents adjusted to have 3 Turn Duration to their Buffs/Debuffs
- Snipers can be recruited from Contacts: Erik Faen, Weapons Smuggler, Court Assassin
- New Contact Trait "Ruthless" spurns all peaceful missions and hires out Snipers
- New limitation on Sniper Rifle Weapons -- cannot be fired from the front rank unless last crew alive
- New limitation on Snubber Weapons -- cannot be fired from the 4th rank ever
- Improved enemy crew combat AI's thinking about changing positions
- Fixed issue with enemy crew combat AI cheating when it comes to moving Pinned
- Star filters for Contacts, Crew List and Atlas all function on an "OR" rule
- Added useful details to Talent leveling screen about each Talent type
- Added personal objective in regards to Valencia being aboard your ship
- Fixed Mass inconsistencies for Medium sized Torpedoes and Plasma Cannons
- Fixed scrolling issues with screens with multiple panels, weapon/armor/gear screens
- Fixed crashes in "Undisclosed Location" mission
- Skip Off the Void no longer grants an XP to crew upon use
- Escape key closes game menu

Update #52 arrives with a big expansion for the Contact's who sell Weapons, Armor and Gear. A flood of 21 new and expensive high tech gear has hit the galactic tradeways and can be purchased from your Fixers, Weapons Dealers and other Contacts in the trade.

For any players who have seen certain game assets replaced by black boxes after multi-hour play sessions, that is now fixed in this update. Apologies for the issue!

We're excited to add a community requested "hat" type of e-goggles to the game, giving a character a engineering flair. As they are work on the forehead, they can't be swapped with other hats, but you can have an eyepatch.



While in the past this has been a limited, flat list of items for sale these offers have now been converted into services with Rep and Influence minimums like all other services. Now sales of this high-end equipment is split into two major levels for each type. If you don't quality for the second tier, you can look buy not buy. For those who have impressed their contact enough to reach the second tier, some new and exciting weapon types are available.

This includes a new Otrike Heavy Pistol which packs a massive punch but costs a full 8 Initiative. Some other unique and powerful weapons are included, the Absolution Snubber and the Vigeur Longblade. With the expansion into new and exciting weapon types, we're adding new visuals as well!

You can see that this is a foundation built to be expanded. With 2 levels in, we will be adding more soon! Also, this clearly means we need filtering and comparison capabilities in those tables -- we'll be working on adding them as well.

A big thanks to everyone posting feedback, reviews and telling friends about STF! We couldn't do it without you.

- Added new character hat type: e-goggles
- Contact sales of weapon/armor/gear now split into service levels like all other services
- Contacts sell weapon/armor/gear at different levels - now tiered into 2 levels with more coming
- Rebalanced, repriced and reclassified existing weapon/armor/gear
- Added 7 new Level 5 Weapons sold by contacts
- Added 4 new Level 5 Armors sold by contacts
- Added 10 new Level 1 and 2 types of gear sold by contacts
- Gear selling contacts now either sell military gear or other types of gear
- New visuals for heavy pistols and longblades
- Purchase of weapon/armor/gear from Contact burns 2 Personal Reputation
- Fixed issue maintaining current inventory counts for weapons/armor/gear while buying and selling
- Story missions are clearly marked in mission offer list
- Fixed bug allow dump from Cargo > Stash Locations screen causing bad cargo
- Fixed cargo button function while in crew list
- Additional fixes for memory bugs

The dust is settling off the ELDER update. With Update #51, we're wrapping up a stability patch to fix issues, prevent crashes and resolve some problems with very high and low cards before leap into another major forward sprint.

With Update #51, we've improved some of the card-based mini games within the game to better handle extremely high and low cards. They were skipping traits, XP and some additional dice penalties that are now in play.

Game Over was crashing on the regular in Update #50, that is now fixed. We've also fixed a few memory bugs that may help players with certain hardware configuration who were experiencing crashes.

Thanks to all of our captains sharing the game or leaving a review. A big welcome to all the new captains who joined last week during the sale.

- Fixed Game Over crashes
- Fixed issue with Cards greater than +5 or less than -5 not triggering Trait mutation
- Fixed issues with very high score cards not granting XP or Bonus XP
- Fixed issues with very low score cards not dice penalties for rolls
- Fixed typos and memory bugs

The dust is settling off the ELDER update. With Update #51, we're wrapping up a stability patch to fix issues, prevent crashes and resolve some problems with very high and low cards before leap into another major forward sprint.

With Update #51, we've improved some of the card-based mini games within the game to better handle extremely high and low cards. They were skipping traits, XP and some additional dice penalties that are now in play.

Game Over was crashing on the regular in Update #50, that is now fixed. We've also fixed a few memory bugs that may help players with certain hardware configuration who were experiencing crashes.

Thanks to all of our captains sharing the game or leaving a review. A big welcome to all the new captains who joined last week during the sale.

- Fixed Game Over crashes
- Fixed issue with Cards greater than +5 or less than -5 not triggering Trait mutation
- Fixed issues with very high score cards not granting XP or Bonus XP
- Fixed issues with very low score cards not dice penalties for rolls
- Fixed typos and memory bugs

We've been burning the void engine hot to bring the latest and greatest updates to the galaxy. Update #50 resolves a big problem with the new story content, fixes Weapon Locker A5, and balances out a number of things across Talents, Crew Combat and contact services. The real Milestone ELDER Update was #47, but #50 just sounds important :D

Accidentally, Erik Faen was left in a state where he only wanted to talk to us developers. He was happy to spin his plots with Cory and I, but shy in the real world. Thanks to all the players who reported him, his story is now available. You can talk with him directly after dropping off the Arbiter at the Faen court the second time.

We've also fixed a set of other story bugs in the Undisclosed Location mission that were tripping some players up. Also, if you ran into the boss and he refused to attack -- that's fixed now!

Is now worth the money!



Among the Talents that help you avoid battle, Skip Off the Void is the most general and powerful, in that it does not care what type of enemy Captain you are facing. We've added one new limitation and one new cost to SOtV today to help keep it balanced within the list of Talents like Forged Signatures and Stiff Salute. Skip now burns Water-Fuel equal to a Hyperwarp jump, which is essentially what you are doing to escape combat. If you lack the fuel, the Talent cannot be used. In addition, Skip cannot be used if your Hyperwarp Drive component is damaged beyond 60%. It basically requires a functioning HW Drive to make the dangerous, short-ranged jump.

There will be on-going balance to the crew combat meta for a long time. With this update, we've toned down the overpowered Devastating Charge to cause 50% Stun instead of the madness of 75% Stun. Also, we fixed an issue where you could get to Initiative Penalty by using the Refocus (skip my turn) Talent which didn't seem fair.

- Fixed a story bug that was preventing Erik Faen's storyline from starting
- Fixed new ship component: Weapons Locker A5 provides Goliath-class weaponry
- Skip Off the Void cannot be used with a damaged Hyperwarp Drive (over 60% dmg) and burns HW Jump's worth of Fuel
- Can no longer achieve Initiative Penalty from using Refocus Talent
- Rebalanced Influence and Rep minimums for some higher level Contact services
- Reduced Stun on Swordsman's Devastating Charge to 50%
- Fixed issue with Patrol, Blockade and Spy accidents that could sometimes leave crew at 0 HP
- Fixed issue with Faen story arc boss not attacking sometimes, fixed crash with AOE attack
- Improved messages and HUD updates for bad Hyperwarp Jumps
- Fixed rendering issues with thumbs for some skin and weapon combinations
- Improved memory usage and eliminated out of memory crashes

We've been burning the void engine hot to bring the latest and greatest updates to the galaxy. Update #50 resolves a big problem with the new story content, fixes Weapon Locker A5, and balances out a number of things across Talents, Crew Combat and contact services. The real Milestone ELDER Update was #47, but #50 just sounds important :D

Accidentally, Erik Faen was left in a state where he only wanted to talk to us developers. He was happy to spin his plots with Cory and I, but shy in the real world. Thanks to all the players who reported him, his story is now available. You can talk with him directly after dropping off the Arbiter at the Faen court the second time.

We've also fixed a set of other story bugs in the Undisclosed Location mission that were tripping some players up. Also, if you ran into the boss and he refused to attack -- that's fixed now!

Is now worth the money!



Among the Talents that help you avoid battle, Skip Off the Void is the most general and powerful, in that it does not care what type of enemy Captain you are facing. We've added one new limitation and one new cost to SOtV today to help keep it balanced within the list of Talents like Forged Signatures and Stiff Salute. Skip now burns Water-Fuel equal to a Hyperwarp jump, which is essentially what you are doing to escape combat. If you lack the fuel, the Talent cannot be used. In addition, Skip cannot be used if your Hyperwarp Drive component is damaged beyond 60%. It basically requires a functioning HW Drive to make the dangerous, short-ranged jump.

There will be on-going balance to the crew combat meta for a long time. With this update, we've toned down the overpowered Devastating Charge to cause 50% Stun instead of the madness of 75% Stun. Also, we fixed an issue where you could get to Initiative Penalty by using the Refocus (skip my turn) Talent which didn't seem fair.

- Fixed a story bug that was preventing Erik Faen's storyline from starting
- Fixed new ship component: Weapons Locker A5 provides Goliath-class weaponry
- Skip Off the Void cannot be used with a damaged Hyperwarp Drive (over 60% dmg) and burns HW Jump's worth of Fuel
- Can no longer achieve Initiative Penalty from using Refocus Talent
- Rebalanced Influence and Rep minimums for some higher level Contact services
- Reduced Stun on Swordsman's Devastating Charge to 50%
- Fixed issue with Patrol, Blockade and Spy accidents that could sometimes leave crew at 0 HP
- Fixed issue with Faen story arc boss not attacking sometimes, fixed crash with AOE attack
- Improved messages and HUD updates for bad Hyperwarp Jumps
- Fixed rendering issues with thumbs for some skin and weapon combinations
- Improved memory usage and eliminated out of memory crashes

While Update #49 launches with another boost to the ELDER foundation it also includes a huge pack of other balance improvements, tightening of rules and other new content. While there is still work to do on crew combat, we're moving our main focus forward now into the next major items with the awareness that crew combat balancing and expansion will be needed for months to come.

Two new Contact types will now spawn into new maps and will be generated by the simulation during play -- the Retired Dueler and the Duke or Duchess. Both offer an interesting range of services -- a mix of permits, missions, black market access and edicts -- but both bring exciting new recruits to the table as well. The Retired Dueler, of course, can connect you with skilled Swordsman and the Duke or Duchess can recruit Pistoleers.

To round out the set, we've modified the Military Trait for Contacts to link to Soldier recruits instead of Military Officers. Now, when you're looking for grizzled combat troops, think first of your Contacts and not the spice hall.

For those combat crews at the top of their game, plot a course to the nearest Military 9+ starport to install the Weapons Locker A5 which provides Goliath-class weaponry! High level enemies will be using the A5 gear now, so do not lag too far behind.

We've fixed some issues that were plaguing story crew combats -- they were generating overpowered crew and levels.

We've resolved two issues with automatic options costing Initiative. Sharp Counter's counter attacks no longer cost Initiative. Any Attack or Buff Talent that includes a retreat or advance no longer costs Initiative for the move.

The visual in crew combat for Initiative and Penalty are both improved to make it clear who has hit penalty and when someone is done for the turn.



As we return to the regularly scheduled updates, we've balanced a number of ship components, ship hull and ship combat Talents. Focus is starting to shift to the big ship combat changes coming down the pipe -- so stay tuned for more fun.

- New ship component: Weapons Locker A5 provides Goliath-class weaponry
- Rebalanced levels of story and mission crew combats to be more difficulty aware
- Initiative Penalty is now displayed actively in crew combat
- Fixed issue where Attack/Buff Talents that included advance or retreat were charging the character Initiative cost for the move
- Fixed issue where Sharp Counter was charging the character Initiative cost for the counter attack
- Re-classified Soldier's "Frontline Brave" +Initiative team buff to require Soldier rank 8
- New Contact Type "Retired Duelist" sells weaponry and offers Swordsman recruits
- New Contact Type "Duke"/"Duchess" offers missions, permits, pardons and Pistoleer recruits
- Contacts with Military Trait now hire Soldiers instead of Military Officers
- Improved display of Initiative Range in crew combat status
- Improved sound effects for some Talents
- Fixed bug that caused Stash icon to display erroneously in Star Atlas
- Balanced Scattershot Debuff to last 3 Combat Rounds instead of 4
- Increased base Shielding for 'Hammerhead Jammer' hull type
- Increased base Fuel tank for Vengeance Class, Warhammer Class
- Reduced Cautela Titan hull slightly
- Added 40 new Orbital specific Crew Barks
- Fixed issues where Alliances could cause Reputation loss
- Reduced Conscripted Crew starting Morale
- Increased conscripted Crew salary based on level, difficulty

While Update #49 launches with another boost to the ELDER foundation it also includes a huge pack of other balance improvements, tightening of rules and other new content. While there is still work to do on crew combat, we're moving our main focus forward now into the next major items with the awareness that crew combat balancing and expansion will be needed for months to come.

Two new Contact types will now spawn into new maps and will be generated by the simulation during play -- the Retired Dueler and the Duke or Duchess. Both offer an interesting range of services -- a mix of permits, missions, black market access and edicts -- but both bring exciting new recruits to the table as well. The Retired Dueler, of course, can connect you with skilled Swordsman and the Duke or Duchess can recruit Pistoleers.

To round out the set, we've modified the Military Trait for Contacts to link to Soldier recruits instead of Military Officers. Now, when you're looking for grizzled combat troops, think first of your Contacts and not the spice hall.

For those combat crews at the top of their game, plot a course to the nearest Military 9+ starport to install the Weapons Locker A5 which provides Goliath-class weaponry! High level enemies will be using the A5 gear now, so do not lag too far behind.

We've fixed some issues that were plaguing story crew combats -- they were generating overpowered crew and levels.

We've resolved two issues with automatic options costing Initiative. Sharp Counter's counter attacks no longer cost Initiative. Any Attack or Buff Talent that includes a retreat or advance no longer costs Initiative for the move.

The visual in crew combat for Initiative and Penalty are both improved to make it clear who has hit penalty and when someone is done for the turn.



As we return to the regularly scheduled updates, we've balanced a number of ship components, ship hull and ship combat Talents. Focus is starting to shift to the big ship combat changes coming down the pipe -- so stay tuned for more fun.

- New ship component: Weapons Locker A5 provides Goliath-class weaponry
- Rebalanced levels of story and mission crew combats to be more difficulty aware
- Initiative Penalty is now displayed actively in crew combat
- Fixed issue where Attack/Buff Talents that included advance or retreat were charging the character Initiative cost for the move
- Fixed issue where Sharp Counter was charging the character Initiative cost for the counter attack
- Re-classified Soldier's "Frontline Brave" +Initiative team buff to require Soldier rank 8
- New Contact Type "Retired Duelist" sells weaponry and offers Swordsman recruits
- New Contact Type "Duke"/"Duchess" offers missions, permits, pardons and Pistoleer recruits
- Contacts with Military Trait now hire Soldiers instead of Military Officers
- Improved display of Initiative Range in crew combat status
- Improved sound effects for some Talents
- Fixed bug that caused Stash icon to display erroneously in Star Atlas
- Balanced Scattershot Debuff to last 3 Combat Rounds instead of 4
- Increased base Shielding for 'Hammerhead Jammer' hull type
- Increased base Fuel tank for Vengeance Class, Warhammer Class
- Reduced Cautela Titan hull slightly
- Added 40 new Orbital specific Crew Barks
- Fixed issues where Alliances could cause Reputation loss
- Reduced Conscripted Crew starting Morale
- Increased conscripted Crew salary based on level, difficulty

A Void Engine does strange things to human biology. For those spacers who spend their lives on a Star Trader vessel, taking only short sojourns to the spice hall, time moves slowly. Those who ply the stars suffer many hardships, but their lifespans are extended -- if they can survive.

With the ELDER milestone update live, we're returning to our regularly scheduled update madness. So get ready for some good stuff!

A massive update always needs a good follow-on patch. We have fixed all reported crashes and all reported story bugs. Many thanks to those reporting!

The art team has been cooped up testing crew combat and story for what feels like an eternity, so they're breaking out with two new outfits and a new hat. We've heard the community asking for more matching outfits between the sexes, so the female outfit purposefully matches the red coat pirate uniform on the male side. The new male outfit is a desert smuggler or merchant.

When it comes to hats, you can blockade the Rychart worlds ... you can malign their Princes for their connection to Shelgeroth ... you can call them snakes ... but you can't stop the hats. The hats must flow. And this one has a feather to boot.



We've made a few fixes and tweaks to crew combat with this update. Because Sharp Counter can provide one to multiple free counter attacks, its Initiative cost has been bumped to 1.5X the weapon. Cleansing Purge, which removes debuffs and heals both HP and MP has gone up to 10 Initiative.

We've fixed 4 buffs including Backline Leader that were refusing to activate when their owner had certain weapons equipped. Advancing Front now advances again.

- Added new male character outfit: desert crawler
- Added new female character outfit: red coat pirate (matches male outfit)
- Added new character hat -- stately red
- Increased Initiative cost of Swordsman's "Sharp Counter" talent to 1.5X weapon cost
- Increased Initiative cost of Combat Medic's "Cleansing Purge" from 8 to 10
- Fixed issue with Pistoleer's "Advancing Front" not moving forward
- Fixed issue with some ship repairs not costing credits
- Fixed some Buffs like Backline Leader refusing to work due to invalid weapon
- Fixed all reported story bugs
- Fixed all reported crashes

A Void Engine does strange things to human biology. For those spacers who spend their lives on a Star Trader vessel, taking only short sojourns to the spice hall, time moves slowly. Those who ply the stars suffer many hardships, but their lifespans are extended -- if they can survive.

With the ELDER milestone update live, we're returning to our regularly scheduled update madness. So get ready for some good stuff!

A massive update always needs a good follow-on patch. We have fixed all reported crashes and all reported story bugs. Many thanks to those reporting!

The art team has been cooped up testing crew combat and story for what feels like an eternity, so they're breaking out with two new outfits and a new hat. We've heard the community asking for more matching outfits between the sexes, so the female outfit purposefully matches the red coat pirate uniform on the male side. The new male outfit is a desert smuggler or merchant.

When it comes to hats, you can blockade the Rychart worlds ... you can malign their Princes for their connection to Shelgeroth ... you can call them snakes ... but you can't stop the hats. The hats must flow. And this one has a feather to boot.



We've made a few fixes and tweaks to crew combat with this update. Because Sharp Counter can provide one to multiple free counter attacks, its Initiative cost has been bumped to 1.5X the weapon. Cleansing Purge, which removes debuffs and heals both HP and MP has gone up to 10 Initiative.

We've fixed 4 buffs including Backline Leader that were refusing to activate when their owner had certain weapons equipped. Advancing Front now advances again.

- Added new male character outfit: desert crawler
- Added new female character outfit: red coat pirate (matches male outfit)
- Added new character hat -- stately red
- Increased Initiative cost of Swordsman's "Sharp Counter" talent to 1.5X weapon cost
- Increased Initiative cost of Combat Medic's "Cleansing Purge" from 8 to 10
- Fixed issue with Pistoleer's "Advancing Front" not moving forward
- Fixed issue with some ship repairs not costing credits
- Fixed some Buffs like Backline Leader refusing to work due to invalid weapon
- Fixed all reported story bugs
- Fixed all reported crashes